


Shadows of Memory

by Talyn_Drake



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Can a Death Knight be happy?, Gen, Memories, Recovered Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 15:50:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talyn_Drake/pseuds/Talyn_Drake
Summary: Is there such a thing as a feeling of happiness when your a Death Knight?





	Shadows of Memory

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally written for a guild writing challenge, the prompt being 'A time when your character felt truly happy'. Of course I had to go the hard way and try to find a happy moment for my Death Knight. Also I've seen it debated on how much/if a Death Knight remembers their former life, and for Eve that answer was, not a lot. I hope you like it.

In the forests of the Ghostlands of Quel'thalas, two shadows moved through the grey gloom leaving a trail of death in their wake. The first tall and broad of shoulder, the other small and lithe, both moving a grace that belied the dark plate armor that covered their bodies as blades danced through the dense light, any creature with the misfortune to cross their deadly path struck down without prejudice.

"Forty-seven...forty-eight...forty-nine...." The female counts out in a rough voice as her blade swung round once more striking the next foe.  
"Fifty!" Says a deep, almost echoing voice behind her as she turned in time to see the last of the large spiders fall to the ground cleaved in half. Her cold blue eyes narrowed at the man as she huffed in anger.   
"You!" She hissed.  
"I win again little sister." He said with a smile.  
"You cheated, it was attacking me. The deal was those which we can draw to ourselves, not attacking the others."  
'So you would prefer I let that spider sneak up and bite you on the ass while you were so busy counting kills?" He said as he casually wiped the filth from his runed sword on a scrap of cloth as she shrugged, obviously irritated.  
"I heard it coming, I just needed to finish the one in front of me. But as always you are stealing my kills dear brother." She said trying to keep the angry look upon her face yet unable to as she saw the smirk on his face. Bursting into laughter, something she had almost forgotten she could do, she smacked the plate armor covered arm playfully as she tugged the cloth from his hand and began to clean her own blade. "You just can't let me win, you never could."  
"I let you win once...when we were around three. Do you remember? You wanted to race and I let you take the lead." He said as his equally pale blue eyes took a faraway look then smiled. "As I recall, once you had won you turned around and punched me in the nose for it because as always you wanted to do it on your own."  
"Mmm, I suppose I did; but you seem to have regained more memories than I..." She said trailing off as she looked off towards a small village fallen to ruin like so many others they had come across. Looking to his sister, Ty was about to speak then his eyes followed her own as something deep within stirred. "Ty..." She whispered as he noticed her hands holding her blade had begun to shake.  
"Evey..." He said as his eyes followed the same direction as something cold seemed to fill him. "Come, we should go back to Tranquillen." He said softly as he placed a hand on her shoulder only to have her shrug him away as she began to walk towards the small village which echoed one word in the shadows of his memories. Home. "Evey stop! Come on this is a bad idea...you stubborn little wench come back here!" He demanded as she turned on him, her pale blue eyes seeming to glow with anger.  
"You may be the older twin, but you will never command me brother!" She hissed then softened slightly seeing the look of discomfort on his face. "Brother...I...I must." She said in a voice he couldn't recall hearing for so long, the sound of the young girl she once was. Knowing she would not give in he sighed tiredly and nodded. "I think this is foolish, but we will go together."

Keeping their blades at the ready lest some Scourge or other vermin attack they followed the path into what remained of Goldenmist Village, the place they had...in life...called home. Though many of the homes still stood, it was clear the Scourge had not spared the inhabitants, nor had vandals and vagrants in the years since. Broken furniture, books, and other remnants of the former residents were strewn about left to the elements to rot and fade away as he felt the energy of lingering spirits about them.

As Eve walked through the scattered ruins she could feel the tug of something deep within her mind, shadows of what she knew were memories so deeply buried they seemed to disappear as quickly as a morning mist in the sun when she would try to reach them. Like her brother she too could sense the lingering spirits, trapped by some force beyond her ability to comprehend, clinging to the place they had once called their home. As if led by some invisible tether, she felt pulled towards a single structure, close to the shore.

"This is it." She said softly. "I can feel them here, this was our home Ty."   
'Eve..." He began then quickly stopped as she turned on him once more. "You remember, you have allowed your memories to begin to come to you, mine are few." She hissed. "I cannot seem to reach my own." She whispered then shook her head as if to shake away the feeling of uneasiness then reached out to push the wooden door open enough to allow her to enter. It was, perhaps by the standard of her kind, a modest home. Though her parents had both come from noble blood and families with great estates, they had chosen a more simple life for themselves and their two children. Moving from room to room she struggled within her mind to find anything but shadows of her past, some small memory beyond simple familiarity with the place she once called home. At the top of the stairs that would lead to the second floor something on the edge of her mind brought her to alertness. Bringing up her sword she would move slowly into a room she recognized as the one shared by her parents then gasped as a ghostly form stood before her.

"Mi....Minn'da?" She whispered softly as the form seemed to come alert, moving quickly from a wardrobe to a small chest placing items within it with great haste before closing it. Kneeling she pulled back the carpet on the floor, touching a small indentation to reveal a hidden space in which she placed the chest before closing it and covering it once again. Standing she would grab a staff that Eve would recognize then sprinted through the room past Eve as she cried out. "Minn'da no!" She cried only to see Ty enter the room quickly.

"Sister...what is it?" He said concerned as he noted the trembling within her before she would shake her head clearing her thoughts.  
"It...its nothing. I must have been some illusion...some fragment of memory perhaps." She said softly then furrowed her brow turning back and seeing the same carpet, though now faded with age and stained by what she assumed was blood or other remains from vermin and other things that may have entered. Slowly crossing to where the ghostly vision had occurred she knelt, her hand shaking as she reached out to throw the tattered rug aside, her eyes finding the slight imperfection in the floor as she reached out and pressed seeing the door lift revealing the small chest within.

"What have you found?" Ty said coming to kneel at her side as she removed the chest then paused, steeling herself to see what might lie within if anything. Seeing her hesitation Ty would reach out, unfastening the clasps that held it closed, lifting the lid as she watched nervously. "How did you find this?" He said finding various mementos, pieces of finely made jewelry, a stack of letters tied with a faded ribbon, dried flowers which nearly crumbled with age, and lastly something long, wrapped in a silken cloth. Taking the cloth wrapped bundle from the box with great care he would hear a gasp from the woman beside him. "Eve?"  
"Give it to me!" She said with a shaking voice, her hands trembling as she reached out to carefully take the bundle, then unwrap it as she cried out. "I...I thought they were lost forever, that..." She said her voices fading as shadows stirred in her mind, the present fading away as images played out before her eyes.

_The tall imposing man stood behind the desk sipping his wine from a crystal goblet as she entered the room, standing before him with a defiant look upon her face; though within she felt she were a mere toddling babe caught sneaking some forbidden treat. Her father was a large man, tall even for their kind with broad shoulders and stern face surrounded by a long fall of silvery hair worn in a top knot. His armor was immaculate as ever, though he now served as one of the higher ranking officers for the military ranks of Silvermoon._

_"You wished to see me Ann'da?" She said standing with her back straight, her chin up determined to show no weakness in his presence._   
_"Evelystirra, I see you have returned safely from your service."_   
_"Yes Sir, I..." She began only to be cut off by his next words._   
_"You know I forbid you to go with the regiment of Farstriders we sent to assist the humans," He said pointedly as she stiffened, taking a deep breath,_   
_"Yet you made no such command of Ty, yet I would not let him go off to some strange land without me at his back. You should know where he goes, I go, so it has always been. Again it seems I have disappointed you, Ann'da, but I will not apologize for fighting at my brother's back." She said defiantly then was shocked to see the stern face suddenly soften, almost sadly._   
_"You think you disappoint me child?"_   
_"It seems I have always chosen a path to which you do not approve." She said as he sat down heavily in the chair, his hand coming up to rub over his face as if her words had drained him of his strength then looked to her with sadness in his eyes._   
_"Evey...if that is the impression I have left upon your heart then I must apologize, I never knew you felt so. Yes, I would have preferred a daughter content to find a man of a good family to make a marriage with but from the moment of your birth, I knew that would not be your way. You have always been a challenging child, determined not to fall in the shadow of your brother, yet I fear I have never found a way to tell you how proud I am of you. I received reports from the first day of your training when you secretly joined, I have been given glowing reports of your skills in battle, my girl there are no words to describe the pride I feel when I someone comes to me to speak of your honor, your determination and your skills." He said as she felt tears fill her eyes._   
_"You...you're not angry?"_   
_"Admittedly yes, at first I was angry you defied me, but my girl..." He would say coming around the desk to embrace her. "It is not the life I wanted for you, but it is the life you chose and could not feel more proud of you." He said as he stepped back removing one of the finely made blades at his side, holding it across his palms in offering to her._

_"This blade and its mate that I carry, have been passed down through the centuries for as long as memory serves. Their names and origins have been lost in time, but each generation the wielder chooses the one he or she feels is deserving to carry them into the next. Someday, you will wield these my girl, you will fight with them in the name of our people and pass them on to your own when your days come to a close." He said as she looked up with surprise._   
_"But...Ty is your firstborn, would they not be meant for him?" She said softly as her father shook his head._   
_"Your brother already has been passed his legacy, this however will be yours when either I retire from service or the breath has left my body for eternity."_   
_"May that day be long in coming Ann'da..."_

"Eve...Eve!" Her brothers urgent voice called as if from a distance as she was pulled from the memories, a strange, cold sensation on her face. Reaching up she felt what she realized must be tears as she brushed them with her hand, noting they seemed to freeze upon her skin, a trace of the dark magic swirling through the otherwise clear fluids. "Eve what is wrong? What happened to you?" Looking up to her brother she felt an unfamiliar sensation within her, one she realized though not as it may have once been, it must be happiness as her lips curved into a smile.  
"I am good brother...I am...dare I say...happy. It is not a feeling I have known for so long." She would say in a soft echoing whisper as she felt his arms surround her.  
"And what has brought this feeling to you at last?"  
"I...I remembered..."


End file.
